


Seen And Unseen

by tielan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29258616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: Bucky Barnes and the women who see him for what he is.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Shuri
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Seen And Unseen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lionessvalenti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/gifts).



Perhaps most terrifying is that it’s the women who see him most clearly for what he is, and are willing to use him to the full extent of his experience and knowledge.

–

Maria Hill visits him on the farm: _I’m here to ask if you’re willing to come out and join world security._

Standing amidst his goats, thinking it would be too much to expect that this woman might be dissuaded by anything as ephemeral as political negotiations and goatshit, Bucky snorts. _Ask?_

 _I don’t imagine you’d be commanded._ But she sighs as she takes his refusal at face value, even if she warns him. _You have valuable skills, Barnes. Sooner or later, someone will want to use them._

–

General Okoye is the one who looks at him as a possible threat. Temporarily defanged, perhaps, but still the possibility of a threat.

_I trust the word of my king and my princess._

Bucky has been in Wakanda long enough to hear the hesitation beneath the statement. _But?_

_But you are a weapon still, for all that you wield yourself._

It’s Okoye who issues Shuri the frank warning that Bucky probably isn’t meant to hear. _There are two things it is always dangerous to show kindness to: a wounded wild thing, and a white man. And he is both._

–

Lady Nakia is the one to suggest him for Shuri’s security detail.

 _We understand that you were hoping to remain quietly here,_ she says. _But Shuri wishes to work at our Embassy in America and who better to watch over Shuri than a man who knows how to walk unseen?_

The Dora Milaje Ayo steps into the conversation, _We wish for someone who will attract less notice in America._

Hill was correct, then. Bucky doesn’t show the sting he feels on his face, only stating what they haven’t explicitly said he is: _A white man._

 _The White_ _Wolf,_ Nakia says firmly.

–

Shuri grins when he turns up at the palace. _I hoped you would,_ is her pronouncement. _Do you like the arm?_

‘Like’ is the wrong term for it. The prosthetic welds seamlessly to his body, its movements fluid, almost like the fall from the train, the amputation, the decades that followed never happened. And yet wearing it fills him with a terror – of what he was, of what he turned into, of what he’s been made - of what he might yet be.

_Sooner or later, someone will want to use you._

_You are a weapon, for all that you wield yourself._

_Who better than a man who knows how to walk unseen?_

_Oh, this is going to be fun!_ Shuri tells him, and her expression carries no hesitation when she looks into his eyes.

For the payment in nothing more than the delight on the young princess’ face to have him with her, Bucky will master his terror and keep Shuri safe.


End file.
